The voice of a siren – exclusive interview with Emma Zoldan from Sirenia

As we wrote it beforeFemale Metal Voices Tour 2017 has begun two weeks ago at Dürer Kert, Budapest. Before the show we had a possibility to do an exclusive interview with Emma Zoldan, the singer of Sirenia.

“It’s the first time for me” – replied Emma, when we curiously asked her if she has been in Hungary before. “For the moment we didn’t see anything from the city, because we just arrived this afternoon, so we just came from the airport directly to the venue. So for the moment we didn’t visit anything. Only this beautiful place and the rain oustide (laughed).” They also didn’t had time to look around in Budapest after the show because they were in a hurry – on the next day they had an other show in Czech Republic.

“But hopefully next time we will have time for tourist visit – why not?”

Of course we were curious about the beginnings – for example who was her idol when she was a little girl?

“I was fascinated by Marilyn Monroe. She was very lightful and I liked her story, she was kind of a model to me when I was really young.”

Last year was a turning-point: the guys kicked out Ailyn after eight years and Emma became the singer of Sirenia.

“For me it was not so hard because I worked with the band since 2003, so it’s a long time.”

“I was feeling a bit of a part of the band already, so for me it was something natural I think. It was a good surprise for me and I was very very happy to do it, so it was not hard for me. Maybe it was a little bit hard to replace a singer that was in the band for many years.”

“It’s always complicated to join a band which has a fanbase. I can understand, it can be disturbing for the fans.”

“So the first months were a little bit difficult in this way, because they needed time to know and accept me as a new member of the band. It was a bit difficult part of the story. Now I feel comfortable.”

Fans always have key roles that’s why the question arises: did they accept her easily? “It depends on people, there were different reactions: some people were kind and happy because of the change, but some people were angry or disturbed by this. So I got some really nice messages and encouragements but also received some really harsh ones, but I think it’s normal, because this situation was disturbing for the fans.”

“Now I begin to really feel the warm from the people. They heard that I’m able to do the job.”

Emma has a really colorful personality – therefore it’s not a surprise that she likes to show her talent in multiple areas of music. “I have a lot of different projects, I love music and doing different things. It’s exciting to try out other, unexpected things. It can be r’n’b, rock and roll, jazz music. It’s important to me to have challenges in music, to see what I’m able to do this kind of music.”

“Of course Sirenia is the most important in these times.”

That’s not a question that in the music industry the female fronted metal bands are getting more and more popular – that’s why we were curious about Emma‘s opinion about that this trend how much could impact on feminism in the future. “I think it’s a good thing. I think there’s something masculine in metal, so that’s good that more and more women coming into this.”

“As a member of a female fronted band I think we have to show that we are not ‘just good looking bodies’, but we have something to say.”

Just a few ones know that Emma is semi-vegetarian and she chose this kind of diet when she was only 6 years old. “When I realised that I was eating some dead animals it hurt me so much, so I decided to not eat meat in the rest of my life. But I had some problems with it when I was geeting older: I had to eat meat again because my parents told me then, just because of vitamins and everything. So I did it for some years and after that I stopped eat meat again.”

“I don’t feel good when I eat meat. There’s something in my mind that’s not okay with it”

“Anyway I love to eat, I love to drink, the good things in life. (laugh) So I enjoy the tour life, but I also know that I have to be really careful with it. You know, when you have to sing every night on a tour without a rest, it’s dangerous to party everytime. So I try sometimes to be careful with these things because it’s always tempting in this job (laugh).”

“Being on stage is physically demandingand you have to bring the energy from the beginning to the end of the show, which takes a lot of energy.”